“And they will, oh, my master,” the dog interrupted, “unless we protect ourselves.  Through the wilderness, not many miles from here, a limestone ridge rises above the forest.  In the limestone ridge there is a cave.  If we can win our way to it before our enemies come together, we can stand in the entrance and guard the Woman.”

So the dog ran ahead growling with such fierceness that everything fled from his path.  Behind him came the Man carrying the Woman very closely because he loved her, and trailing his tremendous club.  By dawn, before their enemies could guess their purpose, they had gained the cave.  By the time the animals had held their conference and decreed that the Man and the dog must be punished, they had escaped and were ready to defy all comers.

IV

From that moment a new and exciting kind of life started.  Not an hour out of the twenty-four was free from anxiety.  Always, whether it was day or night, the Man and the dog had to take turns at guarding the entrance.  The Man gathered piles of stones and learnt how to throw them unerringly.  The dog trusted to his teeth and the fear which his bark inspired.  The animals were furiously determined; they never ceased from attempting to surprise them.  Quite often they would have succeeded, had it not been for the robin, who hiding in the bushes, overheard their strategies and flew back to the Man in time with warnings.

The cave was well chosen.  It was approached by a steep and narrow path.  Only one enemy could attack at once, so the defenders were always able to roll down bowlders on him before he gained a footing.  That was how they treated the lion, when he came thrashing his tail and roaring on the first morning to make them prisoners.  They gave a rock a big shove and knocked him over like a ninepin.  He was so hurt in his feelings that he sulked in bed for a week; for many more weeks he was easily tired.  Seeing that he was the King of the Beasts and the President of their Conference, this made the animals the more indignant and the more determined that the Man and the dog must be punished.  The next to attempt their capture were the elephant and the rhinoceros.  They boasted that they weren’t afraid of rocks; nevertheless they came together to back up each other’s courage.  Half way up the slope they stuck.  They were too heavy for so steep a path.  The ground crumbled from under them, the dog worried them, the Man struck them, and away they went, bumping down the hill, rolling over and over.  They never stopped till they had reached the bottom, where they lay on their backs with their feet in the air, grunting and panting like a pair of upturned locomotives.